Towards stable solar water-splitting devices: elucidating the degradation kinetics in metal oxides-based photoelectrochemical devices

迈向稳定的太阳能水分解装置：阐明基于金属氧化物的光电化学装置的降解动力学

• 批准号: EP/X027430/1
• 负责人: James Durrant
• 金额: $ 24.26万
• 依托单位: Imperial College London
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Fellowship
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2022 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=EP%2FX027430%2F1
• 关键词: Towards; stable; solar; water; splitting

Advanced economies, including European Union, have recently adopted or will soon announce hydrogen (H2) strategies targeting the broader goal of 'sector integration'. These strategies present a clear shift in global politics towards a net-zero approach in which H2 will play a major role to help decarbonize hard-to-electrify sectors. At present, however, industrial H2 is mainly produced by steam reforming of methane, which requires substantial hydrocarbon inputs and generates CO2 emissions. Photoelectrochemical (PEC) devices constitute one of the most challenging yet promising H2 production technologies, and can potentially achieve sustainable development of H2 energy in the future. However, until now, the investigation of environmentally friendly PEC systems for H2 production has been mainly focused on improving the solar-to-hydrogen (STH) efficiency while their stability and in particular the causes behind degradation, are less investigated. However, as scientists and engineers, it is important to develop new technologies in which the overall performances are taken into account, to pave the way for their commercial application. In RainDrop I tackle this issue, aiming to investigate the underlying causes of degradations of state-of-the-art metal oxides photoelectrodes and of their passivation layers, using a holistic approach that foresees the use of novel advanced methods based on in-situ and operando techniques. A wide range of spectroscopic and surface probe techniques will be used to develop a deeper understanding of the interplay between kinetics and energetics of the devices, and in particular how the dynamics and degradation processes are reciprocally influenced. Through iterative design the key factors of the degradation mechanisms will be identified and general materials design guidelines will be proposed to improve the stability of MOx-based PEC systems. Ultimately, an optimized MOx-PEC device will be assembled for obtaining a stable solar H2 generation.

包括欧盟在内的发达经济体最近已经通过或即将宣布氢气(H2)战略，目标是实现更广泛的目标--“行业一体化”。这些战略代表着全球政治向净零方法的明显转变，在这种方法中，氢将在帮助难以带电的行业脱碳方面发挥重要作用。然而，目前工业氢气主要是通过甲烷水蒸气重整生产的，这需要大量的碳氢化合物输入并产生二氧化碳排放。光电化学(PEC)技术是最具挑战性和发展前景的制氢技术之一，有望在未来实现氢能的可持续发展。然而，到目前为止，对环境友好的PEC制氢系统的研究主要集中在提高太阳能转化为氢气(STH)的效率上，而对其稳定性，特别是降解原因的研究较少。然而，作为科学家和工程师，重要的是开发考虑到整体性能的新技术，为它们的商业应用铺平道路。在《雨滴》中，我解决了这个问题，目的是调查最先进的金属氧化物光电电极及其钝化层退化的根本原因，使用一种整体的方法，预见使用基于原位和手术技术的新的先进方法。将使用广泛的光谱和表面探测技术来加深对器件动力学和能量学之间的相互作用的了解，特别是动力学和退化过程是如何相互影响的。通过迭代设计，识别退化机理的关键因素，并提出通用的材料设计准则，以提高基于MOX的PEC系统的稳定性。最终，将组装一个优化的MOX-PEC设备，以获得稳定的太阳能氢气发电。